Fresh fruit and vegetables contain 75 to 95% water and
one way to reduce the water content initially is to use
osmotic dehydration. The difference in osmotic pressure
of the immersion solution and the product is the driving
force of the process. Often used solutes are sugar
solutions, 30 to 50 Brix, or various salt solutions (Gekas
and Mavroudis, 1998). The osmotic dehydration step
can remove up to 50% of the water in the original fruit
or vegetable. The product will lose water and most
often gain solutes from the immersion solution. To
achieve a stable product with a long shelf life requires a
final stage of convection air drying, vacuum drying or
microwave-assisted drying.